REINCARNATION

Advanced minds seem to take reincarnation for granted: Plato, Emerson, Edison, Shaw, Jung -- even Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. All life transmigrates -- indeed, not just life, but everything "returns." Many find the latter idea hard to take -- as though there must be not only no mice in the Afterworld, but no machines! Yet, obviously, if one thing evolves, then everything evolves. Molecules of steel and granite cling tenaciously, as do we, to permanence and the spider chooses her life, even as we choose ours, because spiderdom is the acme of her aspirations. Where the will exists, there return exists.

Even if the evolution of life out of the inanimate does not indicate mind apart from brain, even if it demonstrates only the "accidental" fact that things must mutate "upward" or else dissolve downward into entropy, then "mind" or "purpose" is synonymous with or implicit in "accidence" itself. The one apodictic truth is that life and complexification have prevailed, whatever else has not, including the "content" of entropy.

The universe is mind, as we've pointed out elsewhere. The purpose of mind is to know itself, and knowing can succeed only through particularization.

One way to understand metempsychosis is to imagine our poor sublunary lives as pressings onto phonograph records, on the Akasha's etheric record. When the Atma particle, or Oversoul, incarnates, it shuffles off its generalized shell and starts to particularize. In so doing it may, under certain rare and privileged circumstances, find itself able to examine previous akashic recordings in which it formed similar particularizations. The Oversoul itself, however, is made up of all these countless recorded souls. With each experience it grows in metamorphic complexity. In the Oversoul the Whole is greater that its parts -- although when it separates individually the part is naturally greater than the Whole.

The Buddhists hold that there is no "immutable soul." Therefore reincarnation is simply a way of expressing the rebirth of unenlightened mind. Rebirth is then merely like the same sand pouring into different vessels: bucket, goblet, urn, etc. If death is the abandonment of personal self, then the dividing walls between us crumble and memory has access to all former lives. Most people tend to remember only the former lives of the more interesting or arresting personalities: kings, queens, martyrs, monsters, etc. That's why there are so many former Napoleons and Cleopatras and so few kitchenmaids and village idiots.

Finally, we must detach ourselves from the encapsulating Xtian belief in literal "Resurrection." We must understand that the "raising of the dead" is a metaphorical version, not of reincarnation, but of renewal within life. To be reborn of the flesh, of fire, of water and the spirit -- these are its tetramorphic aspects, to be sure, but resurrection, reincarnation and being "born again" are all symbols of the birth or rebirth of the spirit within the "dead" soul of materialistic greed. Rebirth begins before physical death and proceeds post-mortem into actual reincarnation. Reincarnation per se, however, is not acceptable to orthodox Xtianity in the slightest because it neutralizes Salvation.

(See also: REINCARNATION , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

Body-Mind Rhythmic Movement

A system created by Susan Kramer. Elementary academic instruction using rhythmic movement patterning as a way to develop and reinforce the bodymind connection.

(See also: Body-Mind Rhythmic Movement , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Mind-Body Connection  - Currently taken to refer to psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), the study of the connections between the brain, and endocrine and immune neural pathway connections.

(See also: Mind-Body Connection , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

TRIGGERS Mind Programming System (Triggers; Triggers course; Triggers System; TRIGGERS: The Technology Of Instant Motivation): Personal development system invented by certified psychiatric social worker, hypnotist, and transactional analyst Stanley Mann, author of the bestseller TRIGGERS: A New Approach To Self-Motivation. (Prentice-Hall, Inc.) Triggers, or Triggering, is a means of harnessing magic powers hidden in one's personality, healing illness with a mere thought, and solving problems in a snap.

(See also: TRIGGERS Mind Programming System , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

BodyMind Shiatsu: Component of BodyMind Therapy that includes energy extension, pulse assessment, and touching meridian points.

(See also: Body Mind Shiatsu , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Body Mind Breathwork: Component of BodyMind Therapy that includes rebirthing. it heals core injuries.

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subjective mind

A permanent intellect that contains knowledge of birth, dying, involuntary functions, instinctual functions, automation, etc; includes the feeling nature with the thinking process

(See also: Subjective mind , Body Mind and Soul)

aura: The luminous colorful field of subtle energy radiating within and around the human body, extending out from three to seven feet. The colors of the aura change constantly according to the ebb and flow of one's state of consciousness, thoughts, moods and emotions. Higher, benevolent feelings create bright pastels; base, negative feelings are darker in color. Thus, auras can be seen and "read" by clairvoyants.

The general nature of auras varies according to individual unfoldment. Great mystics have very bright auras, while instinctive persons are shrouded in dull shades. The aura consists of two aspects, the outer aura and the inner aura. The outer aura extends beyond the physical body and changes continuously, reflecting the individual's moment-to-moment panorama of thought and emotion. The inner aura is much more constant, as it reflects deep-seated subconscious patterns, desires, repressions and tendencies held in the sub-subconscious mind. Those colors which are regularly and habitually reflected in the outer aura are eventually recorded more permanently in the inner aura. The colors of the inner aura permeate out through the outer aura and either shade with sadness or brighten with happiness the normal experiences of daily life.

The inner aura hovers deep within the astral body in the chest and torso and looks much like certain "modern-art" paintings, with heavy strokes of solid colors here and there. In Sanskrit, the aura is called prabhamandala, "luminous circle," or diptachakra, "wheel of light."

See: mind (five states of mind), papa, punya.

(See also: Aura , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Meditation

According to Swami Vishnu Devananda, meditation is "….a continuous flow of perception or thought, just like the flow of water in a river." A practice wherein there is constant observation of the mind, meditation brings awareness, harmony and natural order into life. It helps you dig deep into your inner self to discover the wisdom and tranquility that lie within.

Principles of Meditation

The basic points to be kept in mind in practicing meditation are:

·      Have a special place and specific time for meditation. Try doing it daily.

·      Choose a time when your mind is not clouded with worries.

·      Sit up straight with your back, neck and head in one line. Facing north or east.

·      Condition your mind such so as to remain quiet for the duration of your meditation session.

·      Regulate your breathing. Start with 5 minutes of deep breathing. Then gradually slow it down.

·      Follow a rhythmic breathing pattern - inhale and exhale.

·      Initially let your mind wander. It grows more restless if you force to concentrate.

·      Then slowly bring it to rest on the focal point of your choice.

·      Hold your object of concentration at this focal point throughout your session.

·      Meditation happens when you reach a state of pure thought. Even while retaining an awareness of duel self.

Followed diligently you will soon be able to attain a super-conscious state.

Tips on Concentration

·      At the outset, it is hard to keep your attention to keep focussed on one object.

·      So it is better to start off by limiting your field of concentration to a category of objects.

·      Choose your objects with care e.g. any four flowers, fruits, trees...etc. You must feel at ease with what you choose.

·      After concentrating on one, you can move on to the next, if & when your mind starts wandering.

This style of meditative exercise will help you control your mind down to a finer focus, teaching you the principle of single point concentration.

Meditative Postures

Yoni Mudra

·  Close your ears with thumbs.

·  Cover your eyes with your index finger.

·  Close your nostrils with your middle fingers.

·  Press your lips together with your remaining fingers.

·  Release the middle fingers gently to inhale and exhale while you meditate.

Frontal & Nasal Gazing

·  Gaze at a point between your eyebrows, seat of the 'Third Eye' or at the tip or your nose.

·  This would improve your level of concentration. At the same time, strengthening your eye muscles. Nasal gazing has a positive effect on the central nervous system.

·  Remember not to strain your eyes. Start with one minute of gazing and then slowly build it up to ten minutes.

Candle Gazing

• Place a candle at eye-level in a darkened, draught-free room.
• Close your eyes and hold an after-image of the bright flame.
• The practice steadies the wandering mind, leading you to focus with pin-point accuracy.

(See also: Meditation , Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Dictionary, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Thought In The Secret Doctrine, used in senses quite different from the ordinary: abstract absolute thought, of which mind is a concrete manifestation, or of which voice or the Logos is a manifestation. Pymander is quoted as saying that passive or unconscious mind generates active idea -- and active idea here is the same as the activity of the Logos. Thought, impressed on the astral light, exists in eternity, whether active or passive.

Kriyasakti, one of the innate human powers, is the power which thought has of expressing itself analogically in action. Thoughts are imbodied elemental energies. The human brain does not create them, it only transmits them, because the human brain is but the vehicle transmitting intellectual, mental, and emotional energy from the monadic center within, and this monadic center itself originates thought.

(See also: Thought , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

manifesting (conscious thought manifestation, conscious manifestation, creative manifestation, manifestation): Variable method for wish fulfillment that involves wholehearted visualization and positive thinking.

Its principle is that one can manifest (materialize) one's wants by consciously using the powers of the mind to design the mind's reality. Its theory posits Universal Life Energy.

(See also: Manifesting , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Mind

Key concept in all Buddhist teaching. Frequent term in Zen, used in two senses:

(1)  the mind-ground, the One Mind ... the buddha-mind, the mind of thusness ...

(2)  false mind, the ordinary mind dominated by conditioning, desire, aversion, ignorance, and false sense of self, the mind of delusion ... (J.C. Cleary, A Buddha from Korea.)

The ordinary, deluded mind (thought) includes feelings, impressions, conceptions, consciousness, etc. The Self-Nature True Mind is the fundamental nature, the Original Face, reality, etc.

As an analogy, the Self-Nature True Mind is to mind what water is to waves -- the two cannot be dissociated. They are the same but they are also different.

To approach the sutras "making discriminations and nurturing attachments is no different from the Zen allegory of a person attempting to lift a chair while seated on it. If he would only get off the chair, he could raise it easily.

Similarly, the practitioner truly understands the Dharma only to the extent that he "suspends the operation of the discriminating intellect, the faculty of the internal dialogue through which people from moment to moment define and perpetuate their customary world of perception." (See this book, Introduction.)

See also the following passage: The mind ... "creates" the world in the sense that it invests the phenomenal world with value. The remedy to this situation, according to Buddhism, is to still the mind, to stop it from making discriminations and nurturing attachments toward certain phenomena and feelings of aversion toward others. When this state of calmness of mind is achieved, the darkness of ignorance and passion will be dispelled and the mind can perceive the underlying unity of the absolute. The individual will then have achieved the state of enlightenment and will be freed from the cycle of birth and death, because such a person is now totally indifferent to them both. (Burton Watson, The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi.)

 (See also: Mind , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Mind The ancient wisdom taught that mind is one of the functions or innate attributes of the fundamental selfhood or consciousness of the monadic entity. There is the fundamental self, known from time immemorial as the atman, which in its self-unfolding or emanational activities produces the various attributes of itself, among which three almost indistinguishable attributes are what we call mind, intellect, and consciousness.

When manifestation is ended, these various qualities are rolled back into themselves and gathered up into the fundamental monadic self, upon which the monad begins its periodic enjoyment -- to use the Eastern term -- of its own selfhood, unadulterate, noumenal, and unitary. Thus, in its widest sense, mind is an attribute of the spirit side of being, as contrasted with the matter side, which latter nevertheless is intrinsically unevolved or latent mind; hence we speak of cosmic mind, of which there are innumerable limited aspects in the manifested worlds.

A somewhat different definition is, "Mind is a name given to the sum of the states of Consciousness grouped under Thought, Will, and Feeling. During deep sleep, ideation ceases on the physical plane, and memory is in abeyance; thus for the time being 'Mind is not,' because the organ, through which the ego manifests ideation and memory on the material plane, has temporarily ceased to function. A noumenon can become a phenomenon on any plane of existence only by manifesting on that plane through an appropriate basis or vehicle; and during the long night of rest called Pralaya, when all existences are dissolved, the 'Universal Mind' remains as a permanent possibility of mental action, or as that abstract absolute thought, of which mind is the concrete manifestation" (SD 1:38).

Here mind is consciousness in action, the phenomenon corresponding to a noumenon which, in the absence of vehicles for its expression, can only be described as mind in latency, or a possibility of mental action. The dhyani-chohans are the expressers of latent cosmic mind, who bring it into various degrees of manifestation. They are vehicles for the expression of divine thought and will, intelligent forces which give to nature its laws.

(See also: Mind , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Intuition and Psychic Energy: Where Do They Come From?

It is easier to train your senses to notice your intuitive impulses if you have an understanding of where those intuitive flashes originate. In every psychic development class I teach, I ask the students where they think psychic or intuitive feelings and impulses begin. Some answer, "from my subconscious mind." Others say, "from my Higher Self." Some believe, "it's dead people talking to you," or "your guides."

Read more here: » Intuition: Intuition and Psychic Energy - Where Do They Come From?